The commission was asked to help the town look at revitalizing the town center including ways to reuse two vacant schools and an abandoned bridge.

In its report to the town, the commission stated that private “investment may follow once the Town can come to agreement on what they would like to occur at the two former schools.” Proposals for the reuse of the one of the town’s two vacant schools came to town meeting twice, and voters said no to both proposals.

Officials held a meeting in September to ask residents about their vision for the downtown. The commission used those comments to fashion its report. The overarching strategy is to revitalize the center “through leisure, recreation, and historic preservation activities and projects,” according to the report.

The commission is recommending that the town develop master plans for three “distinct areas in the center.”

Selectman chairman Marcus “Jeff” Boyle said Tuesday, “I think the study and public engagement have really given us a road map for the way ahead. You wish you had done public engagement years ago.”

The town will now be working with a University of Massachusetts landscape architecture class that is making Hatfield a class project, he said. Students “will come up with a more detailed design” based on the suggestions in the report. “They’ll gives us some options in terms of landscape design, tying in with various properties together with recreation.”

According to the report, the town should consider adopting regulations that “that encourage the preservation of the Town Center’s historic features.”

The town could designate the center as a local historic district, which would mean having a committee review alterations and construction that would be visible from the public way and might alter the historic features of the buildings in question.

The town also could adopt a milder form of review and consider designating the center as an architectural preservation district, according to the report. That would mean construction and alterations would be reviewed by a board, “but the findings are advisory rather than regulatory.”

The report also suggests marketing the town center as a cyclist destination. “Hatfield, with its wide, tree-lined flat roads that offer scenic views of the Connecticut River and high style architecture boasts some of the best cycling in the area,” according to the report

Northampton officials are currently looking into connecting its rail trail to Hatfield.